| title |
url |
description |
category |
affiliation |
| Dynamic Physical Rendering (DPR) |
web link |
Page describing the 'Claytronics' project that Intel is working on jointly with CMU. |
article |
Intel |
| RSS 05: Workshop on SR Robotics |
web link |
Page for the RSS 05 workshop on 'Self-Reconfigurable Robots/Systems and Applications'. The PPT files for the talks given at the workshop are linked on this page. |
conference |
RSS |
| RSS 06: Workshop on SR Robotics |
web link |
Page for the RSS 06 workshop on 'Self-Reconfigurable, Modular Robots'. The PPT files for the talks given at the workshop, along with PDF files of the talk abstracts, are linked on this page. |
conference |
RSS |
| IROS 08: Workshop on SR Robotics |
web link |
Page for the IROS 08 Workshop on 'Self-Reconfigurable Robots, Systems and Applications'. There are several PDF's linked on the 'schedule' page. |
conference |
IROS |
| Distributed Robotics Laboratory: modular robots page |
web link |
This is an older page on MIT's DRL website. It's specific to modular robotics, but you can click on navigation tabs at the top of the page to see work in areas of robotics. The other DRL pages that have more of a 'wiki' look and style are newer. |
group page |
MIT |
| Hexagonal Metamorphic Robots @ Texas A_M |
web link |
Page about metamorphic (reconfigurable) robots at the Parasol site for Texas A_M. The pages constructed by undergraduates Mary Brooks and Beth Tsai (linked at the top of this page) give a quick introduction to some of the group's past work. The PI is Nancy Amato. It appears that there have been no new publications since 2005. |
group page |
Texas A_M |
| Intelligent Motion Surfaces @ USC |
web link |
This page doesn't seem to be linked from the main PRL site, so I've included it here. The focus is just as the title says, intelligent motion surfaces, and the research seemed to look at MEMS (micro-electrical mechanical systems) as a hardware platform. The only listed publications are pretty old, so this line of research may be defunct here. |
group page |
USC |
| Professor Jennifer Walter: Homepage |
web link |
This professor's home page lists a few publications from 2001-2005 on the topic of metamorphic (reconfigurable) robots, but nothing since then. |
group page |
Vassar |
| SuperBot Project at USC |
web link |
The group page for the SuperBot project which has some fairly ambitious goals in terms of getting a lot of modules built and working together in addition to theoretical results. The researchers at USC have also collaborated with Mark Yim's group at UPenn, and even with some researchers at U. Hawaii, on this project. |
group page |
USC |
| Self-Organizing Systems Lab, U. of Washington: main page |
web link |
This is the main page of a research group at U. Washington that works on topics that are about the same as SR robotics. The group PI is Eric Klavins. |
group page |
U. Washington |
| Polymorphic Robotics Laboratory @ USC |
web link |
This is the home page of the main reconfigurable robotics group at the University of Southern California. The PI is Wei-Min Shen and the main contributions here are for 'hormone-inspired' reconfiguration algorithms and the 'SuperBot' hardware design (mostly chain-style, but a small bit of lattice-style functionality). |
group page |
USC |
| Molecubes Community Page |
web link |
The main page for the 'Molecubes' site which keeps information for the Molecubes SR hardware design, software, and related projects. This is an open source project in the sense that the researchers share all hardware and software designs in hopes of building a community that can achieve results as a group. |
group page |
Cornell |
| SuperBot Project at U. Hawaii |
web link |
The group page for the SuperBot project at the University of Hawaii (which has collaborated with researchers at USC, among others, on this project). |
group page |
Hawaii |
| Self-Organizing Systems Research Group @ Harvard: main page |
web link |
The Self-Organizing Systems Research Group at Harvard works on algorithms for self-reconfigurable robots and other related topics. The PI here is Radhika Nagpal. |
group page |
Harvard |
| Cornell Computational Synthesis Lab (CCSL): main page |
web link |
This is the main page for the reconfigurable robotics group at Cornell, led by Hod Lipson. This group actually focuses on bio-inspired robots that allow complex behavior to emerge from low-level building blocks, but that's a perfect fit for SR robotics (and so they have many publication on this topic). |
group page |
Cornell |
| USD Modular Robotics Research Lab: main page |
web link |
This is the main page for the modular (i.e. self-reconfigurable) robotics group at the University of Southern Denmark. This has been a very active research group and is led by Kasper Stoy and Ulrik Schultz. Esben Ostergaard is one notable past group member. |
group page |
U. Southern Denmark |
| Professor Zack Butler: Homepage |
web link |
Home page of researcher Zack Butler who has done some work on self-reconfigurable robots (most notably the 'Million Module March' locomotion algorithm). |
group page |
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) |
| Distributed System Design Group, AIST, Japan |
web link |
Seems to be the main group page for a distributed robotics group in Japan at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). This group's most notable contribution is probably the creation of the M-TRAN robot design. It's hardware with about the same design as the USC 'SuperBot' module (though the M-TRAN design may have come out first). |
group page |
AIST, Japan |
| Distributed Robotics Laboratory: main page |
web link |
Distributed Robotics Lab at MIT. The PI is Daniela Rus. This group has made many contributions to the SR robotics field. This page links to subpages covering many different projects, but ones particularly worth looking at are those for 'Adaptive Architectures', 'Modular Self-Disassembly', the 'Molecule' robot, the 'Crystal' robot, 'Generic' reconfiguration, and the 3 different versions of the 'Shady' robot. |
group page |
MIT |
| UPenn Modular Robotics Lab: main page |
web link |
Main page for the 'Modlab' robotics group at UPenn. They work on modular robotics, which is about the same as SR robotics. The PI of the group is Mark Yim, who was a student at Stanford, then lead the PARC modular robotics group before finally moving to UPenn. |
group page |
UPenn |
| Claytronics @ Carnegie Mellon: main page |
web link |
The main page for the group working on Claytronics at CMU. This is basically a self-reconfigurable robotics project, but with an emphasis on small modules, without moving parts, and physically rendering exact shapes rather than focusing on the range of functionality of the robot once in that shape. |
group page |
CMU |
| Modular Robotics: main page |
web link |
Main page for the modular robotics group at PARC (Palo Alto Research Group), a subsidiary of the Xerox Corporation. This group no longer seems to be active. |
group page |
PARC |
| Distributed Self-reconfiguration of 3-D Homogeneous Modular Structure |
web link |
Description of a lattice-style hardware system with modules that swing others into place. |
hardware |
AIST, Japan |
| M-TRAN(Modular Transformer)MTRAN |
web link |
Site page for the M-TRAN robot hardware design. |
hardware |
AIST, Japan |
| Byoung Kwon Albert Anr: Homepage |
web link |
Description of some cube-shaped modules designed (I believe) by this graduate student at MIT. The modules seem to use magnetics for reconfiguration. There are some pictures of the hardware as well as a few demo videos (if you click through to specific project pages linked on his site). |
hardware |
MIT |
| Claytronics @ Carnegie Mellon: Cube Hardware |
web link |
This is a hardware description page found off of the main page that describes an 'expanding cube' style module design. The module prototype is only a few cubic centimeters in size, uses electrostatic latching for inter-module connections, and (I believe) is the only expanding-cube design still being actively developed. |
hardware |
CMU |
| Claytronics @ Carnegie Mellon: Planar Hardware |
web link |
This is a hardware description page for one of the main SR robotics hardware designs at CMU: planar catoms that reconfigure without moving parts. These circle-shaped modules are ringed with magnets on the outside which are then used to roll one module along surfaces of other modules for reconfiguration. |
hardware |
CMU |
| Stanford: Polypod |
web link |
Page covering Mark Yim's old robotics work on 'Polypod' back when he was a student at Stanford. |
hardware |
Stanford |
| Google Groups: Self-Reconfiguring and Modular Technology |
web link |
A Google group's page for discussing self-reconfiguring and modular technology (which of course includes SR robotics). There aren't many posts yet, but hopefully that will change over time. |
information |
Google Groups |
| Wikipedia: Self-reconfiguring |
web link |
The Wikipedia page on the term 'Self-reconfiguring'. |
information |
Wikipedia |
| Google Groups: Modular Robotics |
web link |
A Google group's page for discussing modular robotics (about the same as SR robotics). There aren't many posts yet, but hopefully that will change over time. |
information |
Google Groups |
| SelfReconfigurable.com |
web link |
Another survey site collecting links to web pages and videos about self-reconfigurable technology. |
information |
Miscellaneous |
| Wikipedia: Self-Reconfiguring Modular Robotics |
web link |
The Wikipedia page on the term 'Self-Reconfiguring Modular Robotics' which is basically the topic that this survey site covers. |
information |
Wikipedia |
| Wikipedia: Programmable_matter |
web link |
The Wikipedia page on 'Programmable Matter', a topic related to SR robotics. |
information |
Wikipedia |
| Wikipedia: Utility Fog |
web link |
The Wikipedia page for the term 'Utility Fog' which basically describes a collection of tiny robots which together perform a single function (very similar to what SR robots do). The difference here is that these fog robots would likely move and operate more independently than SR robot modules (which instead would be connected together in 1 or only a few groups). |
information |
Wikipedia |
| Wikibooks: Robotics: Exotic Robots: Modular and fractal Robots |
web link |
This is actually a 'Wikibooks' site, but that's run by the same organization as Wikipedia (the Wikimedia group). |
information |
Wikipedia |
| Flexibility Envelope: A blog about SR robotics. |
web link |
One person's blog about self-reconfigurable modular robotics. |
information |
Miscellaneous |
| Cornell Computational Synthesis Lab (CCSL): papers |
web link |
A listing of publications by researchers at the CCSL at Cornell. |
papers |
Cornell |
| Distributed System Design Group, AIST, Japan: papers |
web link |
A listing of publications by researchers at AIST in Japan working on SR robotics. |
papers |
AIST, Japan |
| Modular Robotics: papers |
web link |
Webpage with a lot of links to papers on closed-chain style reconfigurable robots. There are also lots of links to papers on lattice style reconfigurable robots farther down the page. |
papers |
PARC |
| UPenn Modular Robotics Lab: papers |
web link |
List of publications by the ModLab group at UPenn. |
papers |
UPenn |
| USD Modular Robotics Research Lab: papers |
web link |
A listing of 'some' publications by researchers at the Modular Robotics Lab at U. Southern Denmark. (Note that the group has older papers which are not listed on this page.) |
papers |
U. Southern Denmark |
| SOSL, U. of Washington: papers |
web link |
A listing of publications by researchers at the SOSL at U. Washington. |
papers |
U. Washington |
| Professor Jinguo Liu: Homepage |
web link |
This is the home page of a professor in China who lists reconfigurable robots as one of his research interests and he has a few listed papers on the topic. The university listed is the Shenyang Institute of Automation (SIA), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), but I'm not sure yet how much of a group there is (if any) working on SR robotics. |
papers |
SIA, China |
| Claytronics @ Carnegie Mellon: papers |
web link |
A listing of publications by researchers in the Claytronics Group at Carnegie Mellon. |
papers |
CMU |
| PRL @ USC: papers |
web link |
A listing of publications by researchers at the Polymorphic Robotics Laboratory at USC. |
papers |
USC |
| Juan Gonzalez-Gomez's Home Page |
web link |
Home page of a researcher working on the Cube Revolutions modular robot design (a chain-style SR robot). This page has some descriptions (in English), some demo videos, and links to some publications. |
papers |
Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain |
| Distributed Robotics Laboratory: papers |
web link |
A listing of publications by researchers at the Distributed Robotics Laboratory at MIT. |
papers |
MIT |
| SOS Group @ Harvard: papers |
web link |
A listing of publications by researchers in the Self-Organizing Systems Research Group at Harvard University. |
papers |
Harvard |
| Metamorphic Robots @ Texas A_M: papers |
web link |
Listing of publications by Nancy Amato on the subject of Metamorphic robots (similar to SR robots). |
papers |
Texas A_M |
| Intelligent Motion Surfaces @ USC: papers |
web link |
A listing of publications by researchers at USC working on 'Intelligent Motion Surfaces'. The only listed publications are pretty old (1998 or earlier) so either this page is horribly out of date or this line of research is now defunct at USC. |
papers |
USC |
| SOSL, U. of Washington: people |
web link |
A listing of researchers at the SOSL at U. Washington. |
people |
U. Washington |
| SOS Group @ Harvard: people |
web link |
A listing of researchers in the Self-Organizing Systems Research Group at Harvard University. |
people |
Harvard |
| Claytronics @ Carnegie Mellon: people |
web link |
A listing of researchers in the Claytronics Group at Carnegie Mellon. |
people |
CMU |
| PRL @ USC: people |
web link |
A listing of researchers working at the Polymorphic Robotics Laboratory at USC. |
people |
USC |
| UPenn Modular Robotics Lab: people |
web link |
List of researchers in the ModLab group at UPenn. |
people |
UPenn |
| USD Modular Robotics Research Lab: people |
web link |
A listing of researchers at the Modular Robotics Lab at U. Southern Denmark. |
people |
U. Southern Denmark |
| Modular Robotics: people |
web link |
Listing of people related to SR robots and robotics in general at the Palo Alto Research Center. (Note: Outdated) |
people |
PARC |
| Distributed Robotics Laboratory: people |
web link |
A listing of researchers working at the Distributed Robotics Laboratory at MIT. |
people |
MIT |
| Distributed System Design Group, AIST, Japan: people |
web link |
A listing of researchers working on topics similar to SR robotics at AIST in Japan. |
people |
AIST, Japan |
| Cornell Computational Synthesis Lab (CCSL): people |
web link |
A listing of researchers at the CCSL at Cornell. |
people |
Cornell |
| Modular Robotics: simulators |
web link |
A page offering downloads for 2 SR robot simulators, one each for the Proteo and Polybot hardware designs that PARC came up with. |
simulations |
PARC |
| Molecubes: simulator |
web link |
This page offers for download some simulation software for the Molecubes hardware design. |
simulations |
Cornell |
| Dynamic Physical Rendering Simulator |
web link |
This is a description and download page for some open source SR robot simulation software. It's produced in a joint effort between the Claytronics group at CMU and Intel Research. |
simulations |
CMU |
| Unified Simulator for Self-Reconfigurable Robots (USSR) |
web link |
A page offering for download some simulation software for SR robots. The code was produced by the group at the U. of Southern Denmark. It currently can simulate the ATRON, Odin, and MTRAN hardware systems. (The first 2 hardware designs were made by this USD group, the other by the AIST group in Japan). |
simulations |
U. Southern Denmark |
| Modular Robotics: videos |
web link |
Webpage with a lot of video demonstrations of the reconfigurable robotic systems that the group has developed. Their designs include the PolyBot, Polypod, Telecube, and the Proteo system. |
videos |
PARC |
| PRL @ USC: videos |
web link |
A selection of demo videos for robotic systems at USC. There are currently 12 robotic systems listed, and clicking on the picture of any of them will take you to a page with videos of that specific system. |
videos |
USC |
| Intelligent Motion Surfaces @ USC: videos |
web link |
A selection of demo videos for the old intelligent motion surfaces work at USC. |
videos |
USC |
| Cube Revolutions: videos |
web link |
Page giving descriptions (in Spanish) and demonstration videos for a chain-style SR robot. |
videos |
Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain |
| SOS Group @ Harvard: videos |
web link |
A selection of demo videos for research done by the Self-Organizing Systems Research Group at Harvard. |
videos |
Harvard |